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Yoshinori Ohsumi

9 February 1945 – present

Yoshinori Ohsumi is a Japanese cell biologist who used baker's yeast to identify the genes and mechanisms behind autophagy, the process by which cells degrade and recycle their own components. His work from the late 1980s onward turned a poorly understood phenomenon into a major field of biomedical research. He was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

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Life events

Born in Fukuoka, Japan
9 February 1945

He was the youngest of four children in an academic family.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Graduated from the University of Tokyo
1967

He took his undergraduate degree in the sciences.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Education ✓
Received his doctorate from the University of Tokyo
1974

His doctoral work was in molecular biology.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Education ✓
Postdoctoral research at Rockefeller University in New York
1974 – 1977

He worked in the laboratory of Gerald Edelman before turning to yeast biology.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Relocation ✓
Established his own laboratory at the University of Tokyo
1988

There he began observing the vacuoles of yeast cells under the microscope.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Published his observation of autophagy in yeast
1992

By blocking vacuolar degradation he made autophagic bodies visible, providing a system to study the process.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Identified genes essential for autophagy
1993

A screen of mutant yeast revealed the first autophagy-related genes, later found to have counterparts in human cells.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Appointed professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology
2009

He continued his autophagy research there.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Awarded the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences
2012

The prize recognised his discovery of the mechanisms of autophagy.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
3 October 2016

He received the prize alone, for his discoveries of the mechanisms of autophagy.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓